To report this person to their employer for hate speech?

[NickMyLipple]

I've attached a screenshot - I am not friends with this person. She does however display her work on social media and she is in her uniform with her lanyard on display in her profile picture and in other photos which are accessible to the public.

It's NHS Values Week and I feel very strongly that if you're going to publically display your workplace you need to be responsible in not making such racist and hateful comments.

I called her out on it and the post has now been deleted.

AIBU to call the HR department and complain, or should I leave it and hope that she thinks carefully before she posts in future?

[MrsHuntGeneNotJeremyObviously]

It's racist to automatically assume they aren't British citizens on account of their colour.
But if it turns out that they are either not citizens or were given citizenship in adult life rather than being born British, then it's not racist to think they should be deported/have citizenship removed if they break the law. Obviously that should depend on the severity of the offence. It's govt policy in some other countries to deport foreign criminals and take the view that citizenship (that you don't acquire at birth) is a gift and if you abuse it, you don't deserve to keep it.

[DuineArBith]

I don’t really see how her post is racist? She’s just saying deport them. They’re not from our country.

Good grief. Where do you get the information that they're not from "our country", @englishrosie? Are you assuming that just because someone isn't white they can't be from the UK? This is a country built on immigration. We have a colonial past, and we rightly welcome Commonwealth citizens, and have done for decades. The chances are that the vast majority of workers in those factories are British through and through.

And even if they aren't "from our country", why does that automatically mean that it's fine to deport them? Look at, for example, refugees who came here in the 1940s and who have settled here and made a home here. Is it fine to say we should send them back? How about the Ugandan Asians who fled persecution in the 1970s? Should we send them back? And where to? After all, Uganda isn't their country.

If you really cannot see why that post is horribly racist, you need to start worrying about yourself.

[lemondrizzlehedgehog]

People are rightly outraged about the possibility (and it is a likely possibility) that this tweet is racist, fewer are so concerned that this factory needs shutting down unless they comply with covid regulations. No, this factory owner does not deserve to be the victim of racism but I do feel very sorry for those poor employees. That photo shows an appalling lack of social distancing.

"we're not rich people. " Few of us are these days though. Most of us face the same lack of privilege re: money.

[Clavinova]

StillCoughingandLaughing
Your responses, however, are patronising and trite

Unlike yours:
"That’s f.....g moronic."
"Oh, well boo bloody hoo."

and frankly, you sound like a racist apologist

Considering that you have been looking over my posts from Sunday you will have spotted that I posted this (almost immediately after the post you disagreed with);

"I did post to say that I didn't condone her racist comment."

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

🤨🤨🤨

[englishrosie]

I don’t really see how her post is racist? She’s just saying deport them. They’re not from our country.

And why do you have that font on tour phone? That is such a nonce font

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

You accused me of being patronising (I was a little, perhaps) - which is exactly how you responded to the other poster - your comment wasn't directed at me.

I don’t think it’s patronising to suggest posters should read the opening post. Your responses, however, are patronising and trite - and frankly, you sound like a racist apologist.

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Would you report a black employee if they posted a racist comment on social media?

Why wouldn’t I?

[orangesandapplesandpearsohmy]

She sounds like an ignorant twit, but free speech exists. Unless her opinions have a direct impact on her job I don’t think her employers would care or be able to do anythjng

[Clavinova]

StillCoughingandLaughing
Well do YOU think it’s okay to comment when you haven’t even read the OP?

No - I always try to read the op carefully, if nothing else. I noticed the op didn't say whether the employee was white or not. Would you report a black employee if they posted a racist comment on social media?

You accused me of being patronising (I was a little, perhaps) - which is exactly how you responded to the other poster - your comment wasn't directed at me.

I only posted; "It does help if you follow the thread."
(On Sunday, you obviously didn't notice at the time.)

It's a good job I didn't post anything more robust than that.

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Well do YOU think it’s okay to comment when you haven’t even read the OP?

[Clavinova]

Don’t be so patronising.

Quite polite compared to some of your posts.

That’s f.....g moronic.
I would have thought two sentences from the original post was manageable for most people.
Well that much was obvious.
Oh, well boo bloody hoo.

So what’s your argument
Consistency - either way.

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

So what’s your argument - DON’T report single events because that won’t be worthwhile? Report racism in general instead?

[Clavinova]

So? The point remains. One racist or one sexist is not comparable to a whole musical genre.

There were quite a few posts similar to this one;
"Racism NEEDS to be challenged at every turn"

What is achieved by reporting only one racist or one sexist?

Hip-hop culture is under the spotlight at the moment;

"Hip-Hop Won’t Stop Protecting Alleged Abusers."
"The industry has been proclaiming the importance of Black lives while continuing to ignore Black women."

www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/07/the-women-who-still-dont-matter-to-hip-hop/613681/

"BBC is complicit in promoting misogyny in rap music, Radio 1 DJ claims."
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/03/12/bbc-complicit-promoting-misogyny-rap-musicradio-one-dj-claims/

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

It does help if you follow the thread.

Don’t be so patronising.

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Hip-hop was mentioned on this thread because of the link to the delivery driver thread; "A poster received a text from a delivery driver (sexual harassment) and everyone jumped to say report him"...

So? The point remains. One racist or one sexist is not comparable to a whole musical genre.

[samG76]

this toaster being reserved for Jewish students sounds very dubious to me. How could it possibly be enforced. It was probably marked "kosher" , so could have been used by anyone. I don't think it is sillier than having a vegetarian toaster in student accommodation, and asking people who make a ham and cheese toastie to use the other one.

[Clavinova]

2004 essay by Noel Ignatiev - in which he confirms that he is an atheist; "I am not a believer" and an anti-Zionist;

"Zionism, Anti-Semitism And The People Of Palestine"
www.countercurrents.org/pa-ignatiev180604.htm

[OoohTheStatsDontLie]

I dont deal with the public but I would be sacked for making a comment like that on social media. If we have anything on social media that links us to where we work then any social media can lead to disciplinary. Unfortunately it does reflect badly on your workplace if you are identifiable as working there and post horrible comments.

[Clavinova]

StillCoughingandLaughing
But the point the poster tried and failed to make was that if the OP reports one racist post, she may as well call for hip-hop to be banned.

Hip-hop was mentioned on this thread because of the link to the delivery driver thread;
"A poster received a text from a delivery driver (sexual harassment) and everyone jumped to say report him"...

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

I think she meant that as a genre, hip-hop is generally regarded as sexist - it's not isolated to an individual song here and there.

Well that much was obvious. But the point the poster tried and failed to make was that if the OP reports one racist post, she may as well call for hip-hop to be banned. The two are incomparable, even if you do take the very broad view that ‘Hip-hop in general is sexist’. Calling for a particular song to be banned WOULD be comparable.

[Clavinova]

The Cambridge Professor (Professor Gopal) writes a very measured explanation of her tweet in the Guardian, 4th July;

www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/jul/04/talk-about-racism-whiteness-racial-hierarchy

What we don't see are her deleted tweets - another tweet here;

www.change.org/p/cambridge-university-sack-cambridge-university-professor-priyamvada-gopal

In the Guardian, Professor Gopal refers to scholar, Noel Ignatiev several times;

"Studies of “whiteness” are not new. Respected scholars, such as the late Noel Ignatiev, author of How the Irish Became White, and David Roediger, have studied the history and sociology of whiteness in great detail. Ignatiev, who was Jewish, wrote about the “abolition of whiteness”, not as a call to eliminate white people but a system of racial entitlement that necessarily relied on the exclusion of those deemed to be lesser. For Ignatiev, whiteness was not a biological fact so much as a kind of ideological club where “the members go through life accepting the benefits of membership, without thinking about the cost” to others." ...
"This is why, at the same time as I reinforced Ignatiev’s call for the abolition of “whiteness”, I repeated that Brahmin supremacy in India must also be abolished."

The Guardian have added a link - Ignatiev is described as a "Marxist radical;"
www.newyorker.com/news/postscript/noel-ignatievs-long-fight-against-whiteness

I googled - despite Professor Gopal telling readers that Ignatiev was Jewish there is a back story; Ignatiev caused an upset as a non-resident tutor at Harvard in 1992 - he objected to the University funding a kosher toaster reserved for Jewish students, and then to the University's reimbursement of Hillel meals:

"It seems to me that the logical extension of my argument is to oppose Harvard's funding of Hillel meals," Ignatiev said. "If that is the logical extension of what I'm saying, then I do not shrink from saying that and I do not shrink from the consequences."

Ignatiev "requested the removal of either the oven or the sign labelling its use as restricted, on the grounds that the appliance's use is restricted along sectarian lines."

"The tutor said in his letter that the purchase of the oven by the University demonstrates "improper partiality towards one group."

"There is nothing in the manufacturer's instructions accompanying the toaster oven saying that the oven will be destroyed if someone lays a pork chop in it."

Some Jewish students were "disappointed that a house tutor would take a position so insensitive to a segment of the student body."

"I was shocked to hear that he opposes my ability to eat in the way my background requires, Galper said, adding that he would feel uncomfortable approaching Ignatiev as a tutor on issues of concern to him as a traditional Jew."

Although the University appeared to defend Ignatiev at the time, his contract was not renewed;

www.thecrimson.com/article/1992/3/12/dunster-tutor-defends-views-on-toaster/
www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2019-11-11/noel-ignatiev-dies-race-whiteness

[Clavinova]

Lol @ "an individual song" hip hop song being sexist.
What exactly are you ‘LOLing’ about?

I think she meant that as a genre, hip-hop is generally regarded as sexist - it's not isolated to an individual song here and there.

[KenAdams]

How many of you saying not to report are BAME and have experienced racism from NHS workers? Because I have and I emplore you to report because this attitude doesn't change when they walk through the hospital doors.

[StillCoughingandLaughing]

Lol @ "an individual song" hip hop song being sexist.

What exactly are you ‘LOLing’ about?